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Indianapolis 500 champions Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti plus 2005 Rookie of the Year Danica Patrick will "flip the switch" to turn the tower of the Empire State Building in the heart of Manhattan green in honor of the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500.

The May 23 event is part of the media blitz for all Indy 500 competitors in 13 North American cities.

Pole sitter Alex Tagliani, James Hinchcliffe and Paul Tracy will celebrate Victoria Day with fellow Canadians in Toronto.

"We have a Canadian on the pole, another one on Row 5 and Paul in the show so I think it's a good start and I hope we can get the Canadian fans excited about next Sunday," said Hinchcliffe, a native of suburban Toronto who qualified as the second-quickest rookie in 13th in the No. 06 Sprott Newman/Haas Racing entry.

"We had a great day, and the whole team did with Oriol (Servia) getting on the front row and me solidly in the show. Our plan was to go out once and sit the rest of the day, and we were fortunate we were able to do that."

Joseph Bellina, general manager of the Empire State Building, will greet the trio of competitors and invite them to flip the switch. They'll then join the Borg-Warner Trophy on the 86th floor observation area for photographs.

Visits to CNN American Morning, ABC News Now, Wake Up with Al on The Weather Channel, Sirius/XM, Sports Illustrated, WFAN, Fox Business, ESPN The Magazine, FOX Sports and a media roundtable at the Palm West also are part of the itinerary.

On May 24, the front row of Tagliani, Servia and Scott Dixon will visit many of the properties at ESPN in Bristol, Conn.

The sound of Chevrolet's twin-turbo V-6 engine for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series car will be heard on the racetrack this summer.
The engine program, being developed jointly by GM and Ilmor Engineering, is on track for Chevy's return to the IZOD IndyCar Series, according to Mark Kent, director of GM Racing.

"We have reached all of our development plan milestones to date," Kent said. "The research and design teams are working diligently to achieve the objectives and meet the demanding deadlines of this ambitious program.

"The initial design of the major components has been completed, and all of the components are currently in the process of being manufactured. The first fully functional Chevrolet IndyCar engine is scheduled to fire up in June, and we plan to begin track testing the Chevy twin-turbo V-6 in the third quarter."

Chevrolet announced on Nov. 12, 2010, that it would produce a purpose-built 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V-6 racing engine powered by E85 fuel to compete in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series.

The Chevrolet engine is being developed in England and will be built in Michigan. It will join Honda and Lotus as engine manufacturers for next season. Chevrolet competed in Indy car racing as an engine manufacturer in 1986-93 and 2002-05 with V-8 engines, winning 104 races, powering six driver champions and posting seven Indianapolis 500 victories.

Kent said the IZOD IndyCar Series engine platform is a "technology transfer."

"Turbo-charged, direct injection and the use of E85 are all the technologies that we're using in the street to build cars that are fun to drive, high-performing yet fuel efficient and environmentally friendly," he said. "So it's a great opportunity for us to take the learning at the racetrack and apply it to our street car."

Direct injection and turbocharging are available in several Chevrolet passenger cars. Direct injection introduces fuel into the combustion chamber under high pressure. As the fuel vaporizes in the cylinder, it cools the air and fuel mixture, enabling the use of a high compression ratio and improving engine performance and efficiency.

Turbocharging harnesses exhaust energy to compress air into the induction system, increasing the amount of oxygen available for the combustion process and thereby enhancing power.

"To further enhance that technology transfer, we are deeply involved in the development of this new engine," Kent continued. "This is not an exercise in badge engineering. Chevrolet is fully collaborating with Ilmor on development. We are providing our resources and expertise in various areas, including E85 fuel and direct injection. Our supplier base also is providing components and technical expertise toward the IndyCar program.

"The result of this technology transfer is two-fold: We think we'll have a better product on the track and we're going to take the enhancements that we learn and incorporate them into our future production engine portfolio."

"Chevrolet is actively participating in the process to finalize the 2012 engine rules, and we have developed a productive working relationship with both the IZOD IndyCar Series and the other engine manufacturers," Kent said. "One of the topics under discussion is the timetable for the introduction of brand-specific aero kits. Chevrolet fully supports the aero kit concept, and we are continuing our dialogue with IndyCar Series leadership on the aero kit introduction."
Team Penske has committed to Chevrolet power 2012, and Chevrolet is currently in discussion with other teams in accordance with the series' regulations.

Chevrolet, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary on Nov. 3, was represented in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911 by Arthur -- the middle brother of Louis (founder of the car company) and Gaston. A Chevrolet vehicle has paced the 500 Mile Race 22 times, and on May 29 four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt will drive the Chevrolet Camaro Convertible SS Pace Car.

Two of the most successful teams in the IZOD IndyCar Series have aligned with different engine manufacturers for the 2012 season, setting up initial lines of competition that INDYCAR had sought when it announced plans for the next generation car.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with a team the caliber of Chip Ganassi Racing as an exciting new era of IndyCar competition dawns in 2012,” said Erik Berkman, president of Honda Performance Development and vice president of product planning for American Honda.

“As many of you will recall, the Ganassi organization was one of our partners when Honda won its first Championship Auto Racing Teams Manufacturers’ Championship in 1996; and a Ganassi driver, Jimmy Vasser, won our first CART drivers’ title. Since then, multiple race victories and series championships have followed in both CART and IndyCar Series competition. This is a trend we plan to continue in 2012.”

Designed at HPD’s Santa Clarita, Calif., facility, engine is under development, with initial track testing scheduled for the first week of August, according the 2012 INDYCAR project manager Tony Cotman. Chip Ganassi Racing will assume primary responsibility for track testing.

Honda joined the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2003, and has been the sole engine supplier since 2006. In addition to Chevrolet, Lotus will supply engines for 2012 and beyond.

INDYCAR has hired Trevor Knowles as director of engine development. His primary role will be to monitor all engine manufacturers’ performance and competition.

The sanctioning body also announced that Michigan-based BorgWarner will be the exclusive turbocharger supplier for engine manufacturers. Badged EFR (Engineered For Racing), the turbochargers feature ceramic ball bearings and stainless steel turbine housings. Like the engines being supplied for the 2012 car, the BorgWarner turbos have a strong connection to production vehicles.

"This product is engineered to meet the demanding performance requirements of IZOD IndyCar Series racing," said Timothy M. Manganello, CEO and chairman of BorgWarner. "BorgWarner's EFR turbochargers offer an unprecedented combination of advanced technologies, designed to boost the performance of down-sized engines while improving fuel economy."

The IZOD IndyCar Series will utilize the 2.98-mile (4.8-km), 14-turn natural-terrain road course during its final visit to the Twin Ring Motegi motorsports facility in Japan on Sept. 18.

The race was scheduled for the 1.5-mile, egg-shaped oval for the ninth consecutive year, but it sustained damage during the 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake in March. Raised ridges to the racetrack surface prevent the IZOD IndyCar Series cars from competing on the oval.

The road course is being repaved this week. A race distance/number of laps will be determined shortly.

“In conjunction with Mobilityland, we have made the decision to move forward with our race in Motegi after closely monitoring the on-going situation in Japan for several months,” said Randy Bernard, CEO of INDYCAR, the sanctioning body of the IZOD IndyCar Series. “After weighing a variety of options, we felt it was best to move the race to the road course. We understand that Japan is steadily moving forward with reconstruction and we look forward to entertaining our strong fan base at Motegi with our inaugural run on the road course.”

Twin Ring Motegi, which is owned by Mobilityland Corp., opened in 1997 and has played host to open-wheel racing events since 1998. CART sanctioned races on the oval -- the only one of its kind in Japan -- through 2002.

“We had examined the option of restoration work to the oval, but considering the large-scale public works impact on society in this circumstance and the cost entailed, we felt it was best to move the race to the road course,” said Hiroshi Oshima, president of Mobilityland Corp. "Though we have been forced to change what we have been doing by the earthquake disaster, we will make sure our fans experience another exciting race.”

The oval and road course share pit lane and the frontstretch, with cars running clockwise on the road course. It's a busy circuit, with events for Formula Nippon, Super GT and Super Taikyu. A MotoGP race scheduled for April was postponed to October because of the impact of the earthquake.